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Dauphin County Authority hopes new management can turn around Dauphin Highlands golf course's bottom line

Dauphin Highlands

The Dauphin County General Authority has pumped $111,000 into Dauphin Highlands Golf Course so far this year, but hopes new management will turn the course around. In the past, neighbors have opposed the sale of the course.
(DAN GLEITER, The Patriot-News, 2008)

So far this year, the Dauphin County General Authority has paid $111,000 to keep Dauphin Highlands – the golf course it owns – up and running.

But the Authority hopes that a new management team brought in early this year can make the course profitable, said David Transue, who chairs the authority committee overseeing the golf course. Already, 1,159 more rounds have been played at the course than this time last year, Transue said.

In the past, the authority has transferred up to $500,000 a year from its administrative fund to pay for golf course operations, Transue said. The authority's 2012 audit described the course as incurring "substantial accumulated losses, which have resulted from cash flow difficulties." In 2012, the authority transferred $116,954, though the course repaid $75,000, according to the audit.

This year's transfers paid for capital investments and helped to bring in the new management company, Billy Casper Golf. New restrooms, changing areas and a concession stand are being built. When the deal with Billy Casper Golf was announced, officials said they hoped the additions would allow the course to draw more weddings and special events.

The course is not a great investment if looked at strictly from the numbers, Transue said, but the authority sees value in operating a quality golf course for public enjoyment at reasonable rates, while also preserving 225 acres of open space.

The authority owes $11.7 million on the golf course, through two sets of bonds issued in 2011, according to the audit. More than $10 million of that is due in 2016, the last year of the payment.

Those bonds are backed up by a guarantee that should the authority fail to pay, the county will use its taxing power to cover the debt. The authority keeps a $3.2 million reserve fund to prevent that from happening, Transue said.

"We are all cognizant that the county has guaranteed these bonds," Transue said. "No one wants to see that ever occur."

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